The National Cancer Institute’s new campus consolidates more than 2,400 people engaged in pioneering cancer research.

NCI Shady Grove features two eight-story towers connected by a shared entry atrium with a green roof.

The three lower levels provide contiguous 86,000-square-foot floor plates. These areas house shared functions including a cafeteria, meeting rooms, a 500-seat auditorium, a conference center, a full-service fitness center, a data center and outdoor seating areas.

The third through eighth floors in the two separate, but identical, towers have a 34,250-square-foot floor plate. The deep wall-to-core span provides flexibility for office layout.

Because NCI’s researchers prefer private offices, more than half of the workplaces are enclosed. To bring daylight into the center of the space, the design pulls many offices away from the exterior wall and arranges them in neighborhoods.

The lobby’s walls are lined by more than 2,000 square feet of LED backlit wood veneer panels that emit a soft, golden-brown glow. As people walk toward the elevator lobbies, they pass “living” walls of live plants.

“This new facility has been designed to allow for easier renovations and new configurations to foster more scientific collaboration amongst NCI staff,” said Daryl Paunil, PE, Director, NCI Office of Space and Facilities Management.